According to Plan
by Eureka234
Summary: Tabris feels panicked the night before her wedding. Who better to listen than Shianni? Written for the April Minor Character Challenge from the Dragon Age Fanfiction Writer's Group.
Shianni hadn't felt this happy since she perfected brewing tea. The alienage was a recluse, sometimes isolating place, but she didn't feel like that tonight. How could she with two weddings tomorrow?! The elf took a deep breath and kneaded dough on the bench top, the lanterns in the room casting a homely glow. In less than twenty four hours, two of her lovely cousins would be bound for life and join the family. How she wanted to dance and sing with them, drink and drink, but that was for tomorrow. She thought about containing herself, but why couldn't it have been today?

"There's the wedding tomorrow." Shianni told practically everybody as the answer to everything – even to things that had no relevance, like "Go sweep the front porch, Shianni." Or, "Look! A puppy." It was the words she spoke to people who weren't close to the Tabris family, like the merchant, Alarinth.

"I _know_ , Shianni."

Even he knew. Maybe word had spread.

The elf pulled her fingers apart as the sticky dough clung to it like clay, and added more flour, her heart racing. Celeste hadn't looked too excited, but this amaranth honey bread was ought to change her mind. Shianni would force her cousin to change her mind, just like she'd planned to overly politely offer her cousin bread, cake and drinks. By the Maker, it's a wedding! No one was allowed to be down in the dumps then, even the grumpiest suitor in Denerim.

There was the sound of footsteps. The elf started. She didn't think kneading bread made any noise.

The bride to be entered the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

"Don't make me regret letting you stay over," the woman said, readjusting the strap of her night clothes. Her eyes looked slightly red, her brow furrowed. If it was possible, she looked worse than she did this morning.

Shianni smiled broadly, "Celeste! You are lacking that very special, hoped-for enthusiasm. What's going on?"

"The same thing as you!" Celeste puffed out her chest, "I'm getting _married_ tomorrow."

"Yeah, but you look like the vhenadahl burned down." Shianni said lightly, "How can I help? Do you want some bread? It'll be cooked in twenty minutes. It's really good. The one you _like_."

She ended the phrase in a sing song tone, as though her passion was contagious. In all fairness, it usually was, so the fact the bride-to-be wasn't receptive was a disaster.

"No…" despite groaning, Celeste sat down on a chair and rubbed her temples, "Gracious cousin, can I talk to you? Can you keep another secret for me?"

"You always can." Shianni tried to pick off the dough from her fingers, "That's what I'm here for."

In the break that followed the elf continued to shape the firm dough into a shape that she wanted and placed it on a clay dish. The fire from the oven near her was starting to make her sweat.

"Do you really think I can do this?" Celeste said strained, "I mean the division of finances, the sharing of a bed, the kissing, trying to impress people, the wife-ing."

"Wife-ing. There's always time to learn. Jump through the hoops, figure it all out," Shianni said, "Just like how this bread tasted like paper the first couple of times I made it. Oh, it probably still tastes like glue. Anyway - Nelaros has gotten everybody jumping to get the best gifts – I doubt it's for nothing, if you know what I mean."

"I know exactly what you mean." Celeste said, slowly, "Someone that people bicker about could be uhhh – good, or a deceptive, manipulative horror."

The red-head waited until she'd placed the bread in the fireplace before continuing.

"Sounds like pre-wedding nerves to me," Shianni said, "Should I open the wine early? We can keep that a secret too. I won't tell anybody we drank it."

"I'm not nervous!" Celeste raised her voice, "I'm terrified! _Terrified_! Please get it right, Shianni, this once – for me?"

Shianni put on a smile, "Give me a moment," and she washed her hands clean before standing behind Celeste on the chair and placing her hands on her cousin's shoulders.

"Crisis in the room, your shoulders are like stones. Before we talk this through, cousin to cousin, I have an idea. Let's breathe together… one, two…"

"Shianni, noo…"

They both took in a deep breath anyway…. and then let it out. This trick usually worked. It wasn't always this one sided. Celeste had comforted Shianni many times as well. Shianni leaned her elbows onto her cousin's upper back.

"No, no, no!" Celeste grabbed onto her cousin's arms and pushed them off, "I don't want Nelaros seeing bruises."

"What do you know? Maybe he likes bruises."

"Gracious cousin…" Celeste took some more deliberate deep breathes. "I think it is your enthusiasm which is upsetting me."

"Oh. That wasn't on purpose, I can promise you."

"I know," Celeste interjected, "Would you be happy if you were in my place? I mean, if one day someone had decided who you were going to marry, someone you'd never met before."

Shianni had thought about his herself many times already, but she never thought it was worth expressing her opinion. She didn't think marriage was appealing at all, but she liked the celebrations. She enjoyed planning and organizing, and people. All of these were bountiful in other people's weddings.

"I'd just cancel the wedding outright," Shianni said bluntly, "I'd have cancelled so fast it never had happened in the first place. Like magic, crisis averted."

"How can you be _so_ happy about my wedding then?" Celeste asked, "How can you not understand what I'm going through?"

"At the start you wanted to marry him," Shianni said firmly, playing with her cousin's hair now, "I know how much you used to love talking about being married – even if it is just organizing money, sleeping in the same bed, stabs at romance and trying to impress people. That stuff was _the_ stuff to you, Celeste."

"Yes, but I'm not wife material," Celeste said, "I hate anything to do with money, I can hardly sleep in a bed by _myself_ , my idea of romance is getting _out_ of this Alienage, and being a _proper_ wife – to me that is knowing when to stop complaining."

"Maybe." Shianni suggested with a snort, "I can't say I'm an expert."

"What do I do?" Celeste finished, sounding timid, "Shianni, you're always so confident. You should be the one getting married, not me. Even if you hate every minute, you'd be a better wife than me. The man would adore you."

"I'm not going to vanish into thin air when you put rings on each other's fingers," Shianni said firmly, "If there's anything you find difficult that you can't tell him, or you don't feel comfortable with, come see me. I can offer suggestions. They might not be perfect suggestions, but still…you and I are good at solving problems. I'm especially gifted with other people's problems."

Celeste sighed, "That… is comforting." She stood up to stand close to the oven, "So what do I say tomorrow when I see him?"

"Hmm! 'Hello' is where most start."

" _Hello_?" the bride-to-be sounded like this was a grand revelation of the ages. She span around and gaped, "What then? I want to say something flattering."

" _Hello, handsome groom_." Shianni suggested with a small laugh. " _I'd preferred to compliment you more extravagantly, but I was so nervous I couldn't think of anything_."

"Oh, how do I say it in that voice?"

"It's just how I talk."

"Teach me!"

Celeste looked rather desperate, moving her arms around theatrically, and she peered down to look at the bread, "Hey, I think this is almost ready."

Shianni went to check on the bread. It was slightly overcooked. "Thanks for the warning."

As she took the honey amaranth loaf from the fire it steamed sweet goodness around the room, making her stomach flutter. Celeste watched the bread steam like it was an inactive volcano.

"Before we engorge ourselves on this," Shianni said, trying to find a suitable knife, "What's the plan?"

The bride to be, who looked slightly calmer, sighed, "According to plan, I'll be brave and wed."

"Marriage is a partnership," Shianni reminded her, "A little tit for tat. So if every tiny, microscopic thing goes wrong…"

"I'll ask for your help, cousin," Celeste said, "because families work together, even husband and wife. And I'll remember why I started it."

"What led to this ominous wedding."

The bride-to-be gave a long sniff of the bread on the bench top and sighed, "It doesn't smell like glue…." She smiled and met her cousin's eyes, "Thanks for being family."

* * *

 _Authors Notes:_ Possibly the shortest One-shot ever! The title and some lyrics at the end were a reference to the song from Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride".


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